What happens next?

Hooe Dependency Site uniquely contributes to our understanding
of Manassas National Battlefield Park's cultural landscape.
This photograph shows the Henry House and Civil War-period artillery
at Manassas National Battlefield Park. (NPS)

Examination
of the Hooe Dependency Site concluded in August 1999. The
archeologists backfilled
all excavation units and completed paperwork and photography. They
cataloged and analyzed all artifacts and prepared them for long-term
storage. The collection
is now housed at the NPS National Capital Region's Museum Resource
Center in Landover, Maryland and is available to researchers.

Archeological
investigations suggest that the Hooe Dependency Site is potentially
eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This is based
on five outstanding characteristics of the site:

The probable
association of the site with a particular ethnic/social group

The quantity and diversity of materials recovered from the
site

The presence of intact features on the site

The presence of locally-made, nineteenth-century earthenware
vessels, and

The discrete nature of the site occupation that allows all
material recovered to be associated with a single household.

The Hooe Dependency
Site has high research potential. Further study of the site could
shed light on the types of goods that were available to an enslaved
field laborer household. Additional research could determine the quantity
and forms of Colono Ware present at the site and how its distribution
reflects its use. In addition, the comparison of this enslaved household's
possessions would serve as a valuable comparison with other artifact
assemblages from local slave sites. All such inquiries could contribute
to our knowledge of how the site's occupants-who are often invisible
in historical records-lived their daily lives.

Given the Hooe
Dependency Site's potential eligibility to the National Register of
Historic Places, its treatment must involve either avoidance and in
situ preservation—the preferred alternative—or a full data recovery
program (often referred to as Phase III mitigation). Utility companies
hold the right-of-ways to the underground utilities located within
the Hooe Dependency Site's boundaries. One of these lines runs through
the densest concentration of materials at the site. Any digging activities
by the utility companies responsible for these lines could severely
damage the site. With the current right-of-way and conditions of the
easement, no restrictions are in place to prevent such an impact.
Unless the current easement can be relocated outside the Hooe Dependency
Site boundaries without ground disturbing activities, the only option
is for archeologists to conduct a Phase III program to excavate and
document the site before it is destroyed. Future cooperation between
National Park Service managers, utility companies, and the public
will determine how the Hooe Dependency Site will be recognized, preserved,
and interpreted among Manassas National Battlefield Park's many archeological
resources.

Use What You Know

The What
do Archeologists Do? section of this guide introduces
you to treatments available for archeological resources. The
What are Issues of
Sensitivity? section discusses the importance of
interpreting African American cultural traditions. The Cultural
Resource Management (CRM) section explores laws,
regulations and NPS policies regarding archeological resources
as well as the National Register of Historic Places. Questions
you may wish to consider as you plan to interpret treatment
of the Hooe Dependency Site at Manassas National Battlefield
Park are:

What difference does it make if an archeological site is eligible
for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places?

What treatment options are available for archeological
resources?

What other questions might be answered if the Hooe Dependency
Site is studied further?

Do visitors feel that archeological resources in the
national parks are adequately treated, studied and preserved?

What message or messages about the treatment of archeological
resources do you want visitors to take away with them?